Fan for power-generating apparatus



C. SEYMOUR. FAN FOR POWER GENERATING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 9, I921.

Patented Nov. 7, 1922.

Br LW1% ,4 TTOENE Y5 t 5 F a? re CHARLES SEYMOUR, OF ST. LOUIS,MISSOURI.

FAN FOR POVJ'JER-G-ENERATING. APPARATUS.

Application filed May 9, 1921.

T aZZ whom it may concern Be it known that 1, CHARLES SEYMOUR, a citizenof the United States, residing at St. Louis, Missouri, have invented acertain new and useful Improvement in Fans for Power-GeneratingApparatus, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which itappertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to an apparatus for generating power and has forits object to provide a suction fan of novel construction that isadapted to be arranged in an air passageway and operated by the suctionproduced by a current of air travel ng through said passageway, said fanbeing used to drive a shaft or to operate an electric generator or otherpower producing device.

Figure 1 of the drawings is a top plan view of a power generatingapparatus constructed in accordance with my invention.

Figure 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional view of the fan. t

Figure 3 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view of the completeapparatus; and

Figure 4 is a vertical transverse sectional view, partly broken away, soas to more clearly illustrate the construction of the apparatus.

Referring to the drawings which illustrate the preferred form of myinvention, A designates an upright stack or chimney which may be of anypreferred construction, B designates an air intake arranged at the lowerend of said chimney at one side of same and C designates a fan that isarranged between the stack A and the air intake B, said fan comprising ahousing that has a curved top wall 1. The stack, air intake and fanhousing are mounted on a suitable base 2 and the air intake B, which ispreferably tapered both longitudinally and transversely, is so arrangedthat the air which is sucked into the intake B by the draft or suctionin the stack A will strike against the blades of the fan C, and thuscause said fan to revolve in the direction indicated by the arrow inFigure 3.

The rotary movement of the fan (3 is used to operate a drive shaft or tooperate a power producing device. Thus an electric generator D can bearranged at one end of the shaft of the fan and connected with SerialNo. 467,893.

same by a clutch 3, as shown in Figure 1. When a current of air iscirculating up wardly through the stack A, the fan C will operate andthus drive the generator D, thereby utilizing the suction or draft in 50the stack to generate power. Preferably, an adjustable damper 8 isarranged in the stack A so as to control or regulate the flow of the airthrough the apparatus.

The fan C is provided with blades that M are constructed in such amanner that they will yield slightly and belly like the sail of a boatwhen the iniiowing current of air strikes same, as shown more clearly inFigure 2. This can be accomplished in various '9 ways without departingfrom the spirit of my invention, but I prefer to form the. blades of thefan from fabric. in the form of my invention herein shown the fan iscomposed of a shaft, two end disks 4, an inner and an outer set oftransversely-disposed cross rods 5 mounted in said disks adjacent thecenter and periphery of said disks and a strip of fabric Einterlacedback and forth between said cross rods, as shown in Figure 2,so as to form a plurality of transverse blades that project radiallyfrom the center of the fan, each blade consisting of two layers offabric that are preferably secured together by rows of stitches inproximity to the cross rod at the outer end of the blade. Byconstructing the blades in this manner the portions of the bladesbetweenthe inner and outer cross bars can give or yield slightly and also bellylike the sail of a boat when the infiowing current of air strikesagainst the rear sides of a blade, thus materially increasingtheefiiciency of the fan.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Fatent, is:

l. A fan for power generating apparatus adapted to be operated by thesuction or. draft of a stack and comprising a drive shaft, sets of innerand outer cross members arranged parallel to said shaft, and a strip offabric combined with said cross members in such a way as to form aplurality of radially-disposed fan blades.

2. A fan for power generating apparatus adapted to be operated by thesuction or I draft of a stackand comprising a horizontally-disposeddrive shaft, disks carried by said shaft and rigidly connected to same,

a p 1 ,4a4,91e

rods arranged transversely between said blades, each of which consistsof a plurality disks adjacent said shaft and adjacent the of pieces offabric having their inner ends perlphery of the disks, and pieces offabric passed loosely over guiding devices and. 10

connected to the outer rods and stretched connected to the fabric piecesof adjacent 5 over the inner rods. blades.

3. In an apparatus of the kind described, I a fan provided withradially-disposed CHARLES SEYMOUR.

